פירוש על זבים 2:7

הכל מטמאין בזיבה (all are susceptible to uncleanness through flux) – everyone, including a baby who is one day old who becomes defiled through flux/gonorrhea.

All persons become unclean through zivah, even converts, even slaves whether freed or not, a deaf-mute, a person of unsound senses, and a minor, a eunuch whether [he had been castrated] by man, or was a eunuch from [the time of seeing] the sun. The laws of becoming unclean through seeing zivah (zov) apply to any Jew of any status, including converts, freed and non-freed slaves and people who legally are considered as lacking awareness. They apply to all males, even those who have been castrated, either by another human being or were born as eunuchs.

אף הגרים – as it is written in the portion of the person with a flux (Leviticus 15:2 - which Bartenura reproduces only in the singular): "דברו אל בני ישראל"/”Speak to the Israelite people.” I don’t have other than the “children of Israel” (i.e., born Jews), from where [do I learn] to include converts and slaves? The inference teaches us (Leviticus 15:2 – the Bartenura writes the verse with the fuller spelling): "ואמרתם אליהם איש"/”And say to them: When a man,” to include the converts and the slaves. From where do I learn to include the minors? The inference teaches (Leviticus 15:2): "איש איש"/”When any man.”

With regard to a tumtum and an androgynous [person], they place upon him the stringencies for a man and the stringencies for a woman: they defile through blood like a woman, and through eggy [substance] like a man. Their uncleanness still remains in doubt. The laws of being a zav apply only to a man and the laws of being a zavah apply only to a woman. They also work differently. Our mishnah asks what to do with two categories of people who exist somewhere in between, neither male nor female? A tumtum does not have signs of being either male or female whereas an androgynous person has both (according to the rabbinic definition). The rule with regard to the stringencies that apply to either sex apply to them. So if they have blood flow, it defiles as it does for a woman. And if they have zov discharge (eggy substance) then they defile as it does for a man. However, the status of their defilement is doubtful. For if they see blood, they might be a male for whom blood does not defile. And if they see a discharge of zov, they might be female for whom such discharge does not defile. Therefore, in either case they only doubtfully defile.

ומיטמאין בדם כאשה – that a woman does not defile with the white matter but rather with the red matter/substance, for blood is written for her, which is red [in color] (as opposed to white gonorrhea substance for a man).

ובלובן כאיש – for it is written (Leviticus 15:2): "זובו טמא הוא")/”discharge issuing from his member, he is impure.”) "זובו"/his discharge”, regarding a man. And it is like the dough of barley.

וטומאתן בספק – if they saw white matter, lest they are of a woman, and the white matter is pure in her. But if they saw red matter,, perhaps it is of a man and the red matter is pure regarding him. But if he saw red matter and white matter together, their uncleanness is certain whichever side you take, and they burn the heave-offering over them. But do not require of them coming to the Sanctuary, for concerning sending forth they are unclean; it is written (Numbers 5:3): “Remove male and female alike; [put them outside the camp so that they do not defile the camp of those in whose midst I dwell],” a definite male and a definite female, but not someone whose sexual organs are concealed and a hermaphrodite.

בשבעה דרכים בודקין את הזב – because he (i.e., the man with flux/gonorrhea) does not defile because of unavoidable interference/accident, as it is written (Leviticus 15:2): “[when any man] has a discharge from his member, but not because of unavoidable accident/interference.

Introduction Zivah comes only from a genital disease or dysfunction. The rabbis considered it to be in a sense diseased semen (I know, this sounds a bit humorous). It has a different color from semen. If the rabbis could establish that the zivah came from another cause besides some genital disease, then they didn't consider it be zivah. Our mishnah talks about what else we could attribute the zivah to.

עד שלא נזקק לטומאה (before he is confirmed as to flux) – that is when he sees a second sighting [of flux] that through it he becomes a Zav (i.e., a person afflicted with flux/gonorrhea) to defile through lying and sitting and to require him to count seven clean [days]. But a first sighting/appearance defiles through unavoidable accident ritual impurity until nightfall, like the law of the person with a seminal emission (see Deuteronomy 23:11-12), but it combines with the second [sighting] and even it was an unavoidable accident.

There are seven ways in which a zav is examined as long as he had not become subject to zivah: When a person sees zivah, he can come to an expert and the expert could tell him that the appearance of the zivah is due to some other cause, not actual genital disease. If they find another reason as to why it occurred, they can keep him from becoming pure. However, this only works before he has become a zav, as we shall see at the end of this mishnah. Once he has already been declared a zav, the zivah can't be attributed to anything else.

במאכל – if he consume a large meal or at things that bring him to gonorrhea, and even a little bit, as for example, fatty meat, milk and cheese, eggs, and aged wine, and pounded beans and a kind of kress or pepperwort.

With regard to food, drink, as [to what] he had carried, whether he had jumped, whether he had been ill, what he had seen, or what he had thought. There are seven other things to which the rabbis attribute the appearance of zivah. Most of these are self-explanatory. Seeing refers to seeing a woman and having some sexual thoughts about her. "What he had thought" refers to having sexual thoughts about a woman. The rabbis also thought that the zivah could have been a result of eating some food, drink or carrying something, perhaps heavy.

ובמשתה – increase/excess of drinking.

[It doesn't matter] whether he had thoughts before seeing [a woman], or whether he had seen [a woman] before his thoughts. It doesn't matter whether he had the sexual thoughts before or after he saw the woman in both cases, we can attribute the appearance of zivah to his sexual thoughts and not to genital disease.

במשא – a heavy thing that he carried.

Rabbi Judah says: even if he had watched beasts, wild animals or birds having intercourse with each other, and even when he had seen a woman's dyed garments. Evidently, Rabbi Judah assumes that a man might be sexually aroused by seeing animals have sex or by seeing colored women's clothing. Therefore, if he saw any of these and then saw zivah, we can attribute it to sexual arousal and not disease.

במראה – he saw a woman, even without meditation [on her].

Rabbi Akiva says: even if he had eaten any kind of food, be it good or bad, or had drunk any kind of liquid. They said to him: Then there will be no zavim in the world!’ He replied to them: you are not held responsible for the existence of zavim!’ Rabbi Akiva is willing to attribute the appearance of zivah to anything whatsoever. As his students note, this will make it so there will never be any more zavim in the world. Remarkably, Rabbi Akiva responds that if his definition of zivah and why it occurs should make it such that there are no more zavim, then so be it. To me, this is the ultimate statement of Rabbi Akiva's belief that law trumps reality. If he, the rabbi, dictates that we can attribute zivah to eating or drinking anything and it results in there never being any more zavim, then so be it.

ובהרהור – even though he did not see [her]. It one of these seven things happened to him before he saw the second sighting/appearance, he is not become a Zav because of that sighting, but the drop does not defile in carrying like the rest of the drops of his flux.

Once he had become subject to zivah, no further examination takes place. If he has already seen zivah twice, then there is no more room to attribute it to anything else. In other words, these questions must be asked immediately, not after he is already considered a zav.

אין אחריות זבין עליכם (the responsibility for Zavim is not yours) – and if there won’t ever be any Zavim, what are you concerned/worried about? Have you not accepted responsibility of the Zavim upon yourselves? But the Halakha is not according to either Rabbi Yehuda or Rabbi Akiba.

[Zov] resulting from an accident, or that was at all doubtful, or an issue of semen, these are unclean, since there are grounds for the assumption [that it is zivah]. If he has a seminal emission at the outset and a little bit of zivah also comes out, this zivah is not impure for one who has an emission does not defile through zivah for a 24 hour period. In other words, until he is decidedly impure the semen purifies the zivah, which is considered to have been an "accident." However, after he has already seen zivah, a seminal emission does not purify the zivah, for we can't assume that the zivah was a result of the semen. Therefore, in this case it counts as seeing zivah.

משנזקק – for ritual defilement, after he saw a second sighting that was not an unavoidable accident. For from here onwards he makes [defilement] through sitting and lying.

If he had at a first [issue] they examine him; On the second [issue] they examine him, but on the third [issue] they don't examine him. Rabbi Eliezer says: even on the third [issue] they examine him because of the sacrifice. If he saw zivah one time, they examine him as we explained above. If he saw it again, they can examine him again to see if they can attribute it to something else. But if he saw it a third time (without having been examined the first two times), they don't examine him, for after the second time he was already a zav. Rabbi Eliezer says they even examine him after the third time to ascertain that he is truly liable for a sacrifice. If he experienced the third issue for some other reason, then he is not liable for the sacrifice, even though he is a zav.

אין בודקין אותו – even though he saw a third appearance/sighting [of flux] by unavoidable accident, he became a Zav for a sacrifice. And similarly, if he saw a sighting of effusion during the seven clean days that he is counting, it made void everything , and even it that sighting was by unavoidable accident.

ספיקו ושכבת זרעו טמאין – his doubt is because of his effusion of semen. As for example, if he saw effusion of semen initially, and a drop of a flux that comes afterwards does not defile, for the person who sees an emission does not defile with gonorrhea during the time of twenty-four astronomical hours. But before he is confirmed for defilement, the emission purifies the gonorrhea, because it was an unavoidable accident. But after he was confirmed for defilement, the emission does not purify the gonorrhea, and we don’t suspend/leave it in doubt that because of the emission the gonorrhea comes.

שרגלים לדבר – that this sighting is not because of an unavoidable accident, for he has already become a Zav.

ראה ראיה ראשונה בודקין אותו – that is specifically for [the requirement to being] a sacrifice. For if it was because of an unavoidable accident that he saw it, it does not combine with the third [sighting] for a [requirement to bring a] sacrifice, but it combines with the second [sighting] for defilement. For if the second sighting was not by unavoidable accident, even though the first [sighting] was by unavoidable accident, it makes sitting and lying [something that defiles] and requires seven clean [days] and going into living waters, as just as it is written (Leviticus 15:2]: “[a discharge issuing] from his member” and not because of his unavoidable accident, with the second [sighting] it is written, but the first [sighting] is compared by close analogy to effusion of semen, as it is written (Leviticus 15:32): “Such is the ritual concerning him who has a discharge: concerning him who has an emission of semen/שכבת זרע [and becomes impure thereby], just as the effusion/emission of semen defines through unavoidable accident, so does the first sighting of flux/gonorrhea defiles through unavoidable accident.

בשלישי אין בודקין אותו – neither for ritual defilement nor for a sacrifice.

רבי אליעזר אומר כו' – But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer (see Tractate Niddah 35a for the rationale of the dispute).

אינו מטמא בזיבה מעת לעת – for these emissions of semen/gonorrhea are because of weakness that they called, and we are speaking about the second sighting, for the first [sighting] defiles through unavoidable accident . And just as we suspend/leave it in doubt for an emission over an astronomical period of twenty-four hours, so also for the sighting [of a woman] and for a fantasy, we suspend/leave it doubt for a period of twenty-four hours. But for eating and drinking and carrying and jumping, we suspend/leave it doubt for him all the time that he is in pain, and we say that because of the pain, he had a flux/emissions but not from his member/flesh.

One who had [a discharge of] semen does not defile due to zivah for a period of twenty-four hours. Rabbi Yose says: [only] that day. As we learned in yesterday's mishnah, if a man has a seminal emission, for the next twenty-four hours any zivah is attributed to the semen; he does not defile as does a zav. Rabbi Yose says that this "grace" period is just during that day, the day on which he had a seminal emission. If the following day he has a flow of zov, he is impure, even if this is less than 24 hours after the seminal emission.

רבי יוסי אומר יומו – we do not suspend/leave in doubt other than for that day that he saw the emission alone, but not for an astronomical period of twenty-four hours. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi.

A non-Jew who had a discharge of semen and then converted, he immediately becomes unclean due to zivah. When a non-Jew converts, all of the things that happened to him as a non-Jew no longer count towards his status. So if he had a seminal emission before he converted, and then he converted, the seminal emission does not purify the zivah that he sees after he has converted (welcome to Judaism!). This is summed up by the saying that "a person who converts is like a newborn child." He starts afresh and seminal emissions that he had as a non-Jew no longer count (bet you never knew that one before!).

מיד מיטמא בזיבה – that a proselyte who converted [to Judaism] is like a small child who was born. And even though he saw gonorrhea/emissions while he was a heathen, he becomes defiled through the gonorrhea in this second sighting that he sees within the astronomical period of twenty-four hours of emission, for the sighting of a flux of a heathen is like something that doesn’t exist, for heathens do not defile through emissions/gonorrhea.

[A woman] who had [an issue] of blood, or had experienced difficulty [in childbirth], [the time prescribed] is twenty-four hours. A woman who sees menstrual blood defiles things that she has had contact with in the past 24 hours. This is a halakhah we saw throughout tractate Niddah. A woman who has labor pains cannot be a zavah even if she has seen zivah. However, if there are 24 hours in which she doesn't have pains and then she sees zivah, then she can be considered a woman who has childbirth while she is a zavah (there are special rules concerning this scenario, see Niddah 4:4).

הרואה דם – defiles all the pure things she was engaged with retroactively for an astronomical period of twenty-four houses, as we explained at the beginning of [Tractate Niddah] (Chapter 1, Mishnah 1), and since we are dealing with/speaking about an astronomical period of twenty-four hours, we consider all of these that their measurements are over an astronomical period of twenty-four hours.

One who strikes his slave, the "day or two" is twenty-four hours. The next two sections are here only because they deal with other cases in which a 24 hour waiting period is relevant. If a person strikes his slave and the slave is okay for 24 hours, and then he dies, the owner is exempt (Exodus 21:21). The rabbis understand "a day or two" to be a 24 hour waiting period.

וכן המקשה בימי זיבה – for we have stated (Leviticus 15:25): “[When a woman] has had a discharge of blood [for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity,]” because of herself, but not because of offspring. But if she let blood flow from the spices over an astronomical period of twenty-four hours and she gave birth, we don’t suspend the protracted travailing with the blood of giving birth.

A dog that eats a corpse's flesh, for three days from one time of day to the same time of day, it is considered to be in its natural state. If a dog eats the flesh of a human corpse, the flesh continues to defile as human flesh for three days, from the time of day in which it was eaten. After that, it no longer defiles because it is no longer considered to be human flesh.

המכה את עבדו- it is stated in the Torah (Exodus 21:20): “When a man strikes his slave male or female, with a rod, [and he dies there and then, he must be avenged.] But if he survives a day or two, [he is not to be avenged, since he is the other’s property],” and we expound that “day”/"יום" is like two days, and this is the astronomical period of twenty-four hours.

כלב שאכל בשר המת – for we hold that it isn’t consumed in its bowels/intestines until after three days from one astronomical period of twenty-four hours, and such it is taught in Tractate Ahilot in Chapter 11 (Mishnah 7), “And how much must it remain in his intestines? Three whole days of astronomical periods of twenty-four hours.

והוא שיהא כברייתו (and it continues in its natural state) – that it doesn’t change. And furthermore, there is more that their measure is an astronomical period of twenty-four hours but it is not considered, for he taught and omitted (i.e., the Mishnah taught certain cases and omitted other cases – the list is incomplete).

מטמא את המשכב – and the same law applies to sitting.

Introduction Today's mishnah deals with how a zav defiles things.

עומד יושב שוכב – as it is written (Leviticus 15:4): “Any bedding on which he one with the discharge lies shall be impure,” and it is written (Leviticus 15:23): “Be it the object on which she has sat, [on touching it he shall be impure until evening],” I do not have other than at the time that he lied on the bed or sat on the chair. Lying on the seat and sitting on the bed, standing, suspended or leaning, from where do we derive it? The inference teaches, (Leviticus 15:4): “He shall be impure”, “on which he lies shall be impure” (Leviticus 15:23), and all of them are called מדרס/[impurity through] treading.

A zav defiles the objects that are lain upon (or sat in five ways, so that they defile people and garments: by standing, sitting, lying, hanging or leaning. A zav can defile things that are lain upon or sat upon (such as chairs and couches) even though he hasn't touched them. The things that he defiles will then defile other people and clothing (see Leviticus 15:5-6). The five ways are: standing (he stands on the object, even if he doesn't touch it. Sitting and lying (even without touching). "Hanging" refers to a case where the zav is hanging because of the couch or chair. For instance, the chair is on one end of a balance and the zav on the other. If the zav is lifted up by the heavier chair, the chair is now impure. These five things are called "midras hazav." The chair or couch is now a "father of impurity" and it will defile other people and garments. Note that simply touching something is not sufficient he must do one of these five things.

והמשכב מטמא את האדם וכו' עומד יושב שוכב נתלה – that the pure object is on the balancing scale [on one side] and the impure lying on the second scale, and the impure lying outweighed , and suspended the pure object. And that which is suspended in the first clause, as for example the person with gonorrhea on the [first] balance and those sitting on the second balance, and they outweighed them, they are impure, for how, the person with gonorrhea is suspended/hanging and it is as if he is sitting upon them.

What he lies upon defiles a person in seven ways, so that he [in turn] defiles garments: by standing, sitting, lying, hanging, or leaning upon it, or by touching or carrying it. The couch or chair (or other such instrument) upon which he lied or sat (or one of the other ways of conveying impurity listed above) will defile people such that they in turn defile garments. Note that if it defiles garments, these garments do not defile people. The couch or chair defiles by standing on a person, by sitting or lying on a person, by being hanged by a person (see previous section) or by leaning on a person. These five are the same as those above. In addition, it also defiles by touching or by being carried by a pure person.

לטמא בגדים – and this is the same law for all vessels that come in contact with them that have not been explained, except for a man and an earthenware vessel.

כמגע ובמשא – if it came in touched with something impure that was lying or that he carried it.